Zero Squared #160: Baldwin, Buckley and the American Dream

Derick Varn is back this week to discuss a historic debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley that took place at Cambridge University in 1965. For those of you who don’t know, James Baldwin was a literary giant who wrote works such as Notes of a Native Son and No Name in the Street and William F. Buckley was the renowned founder and editor of the National Review along with being a columnist and television interviewer on his program Firing Line. The topic Baldwin and Buckley debated in 1965 was Is the American Dream at the Expense of the American Negro. You’ll find a link to a video of the debate in this week’s show notes. I should also point out that, at the end of this episode, Derick Varn and I agree to have our own debate sometime in the future. Given how old this recording is, that debate should be coming up soon.Thanks go out to Alexander W, Tayler F, Francesco A, Zac C, and Haas D for supporting this podcast through Patreon. When you support Zero Books on Patreon you get access to a second podcast, the Inside Zero Books podcast, every week. Inside Zero Books features conversations that you won’t hear on the main feed. This last weekend, for instance, Ankur Dnyanmote was the guest and we discussed the music of Pink Floyd. The week before that Derick Varn was the guest and we discussed an essay by the socialist intellectual Hal Draper entitled “The Anatomy of a MicroSect.”

Episodios

Peter Hudis is a professor of the Humanities at Oakton Community College, he is the author of several books including Marx’s Concept of the Alternative to Capitalism, Frantz Fanon: Philosopher of the Barricades, and Marx and the Third World: New perspectives on writings from his last decade, and a member of the International Marxist Humanist Organization. He is also the guest on this week’s podcast.I want to remind listeners that Zero Books produces two podcasts every week, one for free and one for people who support us on Patreon. We also run a youtube channel featuring video essays from myself and the Zero Books team, and we have just started a Zero Books reading group. The next book on our reading list will be Stuart Walton’s Neglected or Misunderstood: Introducing Theodor Adorno, and Patrons who support us at $15 a month receive access to a ebook of this book later today.

Aimee Terese is a socialist, a law student, the co-host of the Dead Pundits Society, and a #Metoo heretic. She is also the guest on this week’s episode of Zero Squared. I want to remind listeners that Zero Books produces two podcasts every week, one for free and one for people who support us on Patreon. We also run a youtube channel featuring video essays from myself and the Zero Books team, and we have just started a Zero Books reading group. Patrons who support us at $15 a month receive a new Zero Books title every month along with an invitation to an online discussion group. The first discussion group will be livestreamed on Sunday at 11am Pacific and I’ll leave a link in the show notes.

This week's Symptomatic Redness features Michael Brooks and C Derick Varn as they debate and discuss the American radical left under Trump. Should the left turn to the democrats again? If not, what realistic opportunities or strategies might we take up? If so, is the DSA the best chance for reshaping or shifting the course of the democrats? Michael Brooks is the host of The Michael Brooks show, the co-host of the Majority Report with Sam Seder, and an author currently working on a book for Zero Books.

Virgil Texas and Matt Christman are two of the five co-hosts from the hugely popular leftist podcast Chapo Trap House and they stopped by the Zero Books podcast this week to discuss their new book The Chapo Guide to Revolution: A Manifesto Against Logic, Facts and Reason. Like Chapo, Zero Books has a Patreon. Unlike Chapo we don’t have tens of thousands of patreon supporters. We do have over four hundred supporters, however, and we are producing a second podcast for this select group every week. We’ve also started a Zero Books book club and supporters on Patreon can participate in an online discussion group about a select Zero Books title every month. If you enjoy the podcast or just want to support the imprint you might consider becoming a patron on our Patreon.

Vakhtang Gomelauri is a Clinical Social Worker and Therapist with a Lacanian bent living in New York City. He is a returning guest and was on the opposite side of Zero Books panel/debate at this year’s Left Forum. In this episode we almost discuss Avital Ronnell, postmodernism, and Lacan.We’ve started a Zero Books reading group for our patrons. It runs $15 a month on Patreon and the first book on our list is Anselm Jappe’s The Writing on the Wall. Support us on Patreon and join in reading Jappe’s book and participate in an online discussion. All of our supporters get access to the Symptomatic Redness and Alternatives podcasts, and patrons who donate five dollars a month or higher get access to Inside Zero Books podcast as well, which means they get access to a second podcast every week. Patreon supporters are helping us continue to produce our youtube channel and other online projects like our online Capital reading group which is schedule for this coming Saturday at 9am Pacific.

Glenn Loury is a Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences at Brown University, the author of The Anatomy of Racial Inequality, the host of the Glenn Show at bloggingheads.tv, a quasi member of the Intellectual Dark Web (he is, at the very least, scheduled to sit on a panel with Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson, and Bret Weinstein in November in order to discuss the topic of race) and a returning guest to this podcast.We’ve started a Zero Books reading group for our patrons. It runs $15 a month on Patreon and the first book on our list is Anselm Jappe’s The Writing on the Wall. Support us on Patreon and join in reading Jappe’s book and participate in an online discussion. All of our supporters get access to the Symptomatic Redness and Alternatives podcasts, and patrons who donate five dollars a month or higher get access to Inside Zero Books podcast as well, which means they get access to a second podcast every week. Patreon supporters are helping us continue to produce our youtube channel and other online projects like our online Capital reading group.

Michael Brooks is the host of the Michael Brooks Show and the co-host on the Majority Report. He is also a future Zero Books author with a book in the works on the Intellectual Dark Web and a regular guest on the Zero Books podcast. This week Brooks returns to discuss the tragic, awful, conspiracy that took Alex Jones off of youporn. We’ve started a Zero Books reading group for our patrons. It runs $15 a month on Patreon and the first book on our list is Anselm Jappe’s The Writing on the Wall. Support us on Patreon and join in reading Jappe’s book and participate in an online discussion. All of our supporters get access to the Symptomatic Redness and Alternatives podcasts, and patrons who donate five dollars a month or higher get access to Inside Zero Books podcast as well, which means they get access to a second podcast every week. Patreon supporters are helping us continue to produce our youtube channel and other online projects like our online Capital reading group.

KMO is the host of the C-Realm podcast, a show that has been appearing weekly online for over a decade, an actor, an author and has recently returned to cartooning. His comic strip GEBB is online at GEBB.io. GEBB is the story of a group of aliens, in spite of themselves, working to save Earth from human destruction and KMO and I discuss the strip, his creative process, and the broader UFO/Abductee phenomenon in this podcast.It’s Thursday, August 9th, 2018 and I’m Douglas Lain the publisher of Zero Books and the host of this podcast.Last week I announced that we’re starting a Zero Books club for patrons who contribute $30 a month through Patreon, but we’ve decided that was too expensive. So now people who donate $15 a month to the podcast will receive a selected Zero Books title every month along with an invitation to join an online Zero Books reading group. It’s a way to not only read our newest titles, but also a way to virtually meet Zero Books authors as they’ll be participating in these online discussions whenever possible. All of our supporters get access to the Symptomatic Redness and Alternatives podcasts, and patrons who donate five dollars a month or higher get access to Inside Zero Books podcast as well, which means they get access to a second podcast every week. Patreon supporters are helping us continue to produce our youtube channel and other online projects like our online Capital reading group.

Chris Cutrone is a member of the Platypus Affiliated Society, a professor at The School of Art Institute of Chicago, and a returning guest to the Zero Books podcast. He is the author of a controversial essay entitled “Why Not Trump.” The piece was a half-hearted endorsement of Trump as the better adversary for the left, an opinion that is not at all self-evident today under Trump. However, this week we discuss the late Moishe Postone as well as Adolph Reed in the context of the death of politics. I want to thank everyone for supporting the Zero Books podcast on Patreon. We have passed our goal of reaching 400 patrons and this month we are announcing a new reward tier. Listeners who contribute $30 a month through Patreon will receive a select Zero Books title every month along with an invitation to join an online Zero Books reading group. Often enough Zero Books author will participate in these online discussions of their work with our patrons. All of our supporters get access to the Symptomatic Redness, and Alternatives podcasts, and for five dollars a month or higher supporters get access to Inside Zero Books podcast, which means that supporters get access to a second podcast every week. Patreon supporters are helping us continue to produce our youtube channel and other online projects like our online Capital reading group.

In part one of a two part conservation, J. M. Colon returns to discuss civility norms in the DSA. In this discussion, the history of the NSDS and “calling in” are discussed as well as problems and possibilities around the use and abuse of such norms. We also discuss the history of DSA expansion, the structure of local bodies, the use of civility norms and the implications for the broader left. Tangential topics that emerge include “victimization as a means of empowerment," the baggage that each person brings to a socialist group and the dangers of therapy and therapeutic conceptions in a political context. We also touch on the history of the SDS and First International as historical models are problematized by their dissolution"

Michael Brooks is the host of the Michael Brooks Show, the co-host of the Majority Report, and a future author for Zero Books. This week he returns to the Zero Books podcast to discuss Jordan Peterson and the left-wing Jungian James Hillman.I want to thank everyone for supporting the Zero Books podcast on Patreon. We just passed our goal of reaching 400 patrons. Patreon supporters get access to the the Inside Zero Books, Symptomatic Redness, and the Alternatives podcasts. Counting Zero Squared, Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week and are helping us continue to produce our youtube channel and other online projects like our Capital reading group.

Brian Culkin is the guest this week. Culkin is a writer, theorist, and film director. His films include the feature length documentary 'The Mission' and the short film ‘Voices.' His books include Postscript on Boxing and, the Meaning of Trump which is out now from Zero Books. I want to thank Nathaniel L, Jeff B, Allan C, Jon, and Daniel R as well as the 382 other people who are currently supporting the Zero Books podcast on Patreon. Patreon supporters get access to the the Inside Zero Books, Symptomatic Redness, and the Alternatives podcasts. Counting Zero Squared, Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week and are helping us continue to produce our youtube channel and other online projects like our Capital reading group. With 387 patrons we’re just 13 people away from reaching our first target of 400. When we pass 400 patrons (and hold onto them for a month) we’ll hire a second podcast editor and either introduce a third podcast or a second video series.

Derick Varn is back this week to discuss a historic debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley that took place at Cambridge University in 1965. For those of you who don’t know, James Baldwin was a literary giant who wrote works such as Notes of a Native Son and No Name in the Street and William F. Buckley was the renowned founder and editor of the National Review along with being a columnist and television interviewer on his program Firing Line. The topic Baldwin and Buckley debated in 1965 was Is the American Dream at the Expense of the American Negro. You’ll find a link to a video of the debate in this week’s show notes. I should also point out that, at the end of this episode, Derick Varn and I agree to have our own debate sometime in the future. Given how old this recording is, that debate should be coming up soon.Thanks go out to Alexander W, Tayler F, Francesco A, Zac C, and Haas D for supporting this podcast through Patreon. When you support Zero Books on Patreon you get access to a second podcast, the Inside Zero Books podcast, every week. Inside Zero Books features conversations that you won’t hear on the main feed. This last weekend, for instance, Ankur Dnyanmote was the guest and we discussed the music of Pink Floyd. The week before that Derick Varn was the guest and we discussed an essay by the socialist intellectual Hal Draper entitled “The Anatomy of a MicroSect.”

Rob Larson is a professor of economics at Tacoma Community College in Washington State and the author of Bleakonomics. He's written broadly, including for In These Times, Dollars & Sense and Jacobin, and appeared on Alternative Radio and other programs and he’s the author of the book Capitalism Vs. Freedom which is out now from Zero Books. I want to thank Ben W, Neil, Luke O, and horacio along with 360 others for supporting the Zero Books podcast on Patreon. Patreon supporters get access to the the Inside Zero Books, Symptomatic Redness, and the Alternatives podcasts. Counting Zero Squared, Patreon supporters get access to two podcasts every week and are helping us continue to produce our youtube channel and other online projects like our Capital reading group.

Luke Turner is the guest on this week's podcast. An artist based in London, Turner is one-third of the artist trio LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner, alongside Shia LaBeouf and Nastja Säde Rönkkö. The co-editor of the aesthetics and culture website Notes on Metamodernism, he penned The Metamodernist Manifesto in 2011.If you aren’t supporting this podcast through the Inside Zero Books Patreon page you’re missing out on a second podcast every week. For five dollars a month you’ll receive a second Zero Books podcast every weekend.

This week instead of an interview we're bringing you the audio from the Zero Books panel "Surplus Value vs. Surplus Enjoyment." The participants in the debate included Vakhtang Gomelauri from Occupy Psychoanalysis, Mia Vallet from CUNY, Douglas Lain from Zero Books, and Ashley Frawley from Zero Books and Swansea University. The moderator for the panel was Pete Dolack author of It's Not Over.Here's the description of the panel that ran in the Left Forum program.There are many definitions of "surplus value" on the left, perhaps too many. This debate/panel discussion will take a look at two approaches to the surplus created under capitalism. One version of surplus value comes to us from Marx and his law of value, while the other emerged from Jacques Lacan's return to Freud. What is the relationship between Lacan and his followers psychoanalytic reinterpretation of Marx and Marx's original theory? Can one hold with both Marx and Lacan?

Bernard Schiff is an Emeritus professor at the University of Toronto and the man responsible for helping Professor Jordan Peterson get hired some 20 years ago. Professor Schiff is also the author of a piece entitled “I was Jordan Peterson’s strongest supporter. Now I think he’s dangerous” that was recently published in the Toronto Star newspaper, and the guest on this week’s podcast. This week you’ll hear from JG Michael who co-hosts the Alternatives podcast with Derick Varn and hosts his own podcast called Parallax Views as he interviews Schiff on why Jordan Peterson is dangerous.Thanks go out to Erik TK, Liam M, Alex Mirro and 337 other supporters on Patreon who get access to the Inside Zero Books podcast every weekend. Coming up this weekend Patrons will get to hear the panel discussion on video games and in future weeks I’ll be releasing the Surplus Value vs. Surplus Enjoyment debate on the main feed.

Pam Nogales is a PhD History Candidate at New York University, a member of the Platypus Affiliated Society, and a co-host of the Shit Platypus Says podcast, and she stops by the Zero Books podcast this week to discuss the revolutions of 1848 and the leftist tradition.Zero Books will be hosting three-panel discussions at the Left Forum this weekend all of them on Saturday. Video Games Technology and Revolution will be in Room 1.100 from Noon to 1:50pm, Surplus Value vs Surplus Enjoyment will be in Room 1.115 from 2pm to 3:50pm, and Teaching Wildcat Strikes will be in room 1.71 from 4pm to 5:50. If you’re going to the Left Forum please do catch our panels. Also, the next Zero Books youtube video will be out tomorrow and it’ll feature an animated version of the text I’ll be reading at the video game panel, so if you can’t make it the Left Forum you can still check out what I have to say about video games.

John David Ebert is the author of nearly 20 books, a youtuber responsible for over 500 videos on philosophy, and a blogger at cultural-discourse.com. This week he is also the guest on this podcast. We discuss his essay On Hypermodernity.We want to encourage you to check out Angela Nagle’s Kill All Normies. It is absolutely still relevant to today's political scene and she is planning to return to the Zero Books podcast to discuss the ideas of Christopher Lasch. If you haven’t read Kill All Normies now is the time. Pick it up from an online store, at your a local bookstore or at your local library.Finally, if you aren’t supporting this podcast through the Inside Zero Books Patreon page you’re missing out on a second podcast every week. I’d urge you to go ahead and take the plunge. For five dollars a month you’ll receive a second Zero Books podcast every weekend.

Stand-up comic Jake Flores tweeted out a joke thread about killing ICE officers and got a visit from Homeland Security who were not so amused. Jake stops by to tell the tale of his visit and reflect on the question of free speech in America.From Jake's webpage:Jake Flores was born in Austin TX in a dumpster full of Chinese food after an old jacket had sex with another old jacket. The jackets named him Jake, after the fact that they were jackets. Then in 2007 he was in the finals of NBC's Stand Up For Diversity. He's has been doing stand up for slightly longer than the current booming glut of millennial iPhone wielding irony zealots so he feels a completely undeserved sense of superiority for being an android wielding sincerity zealot. He yelled a lot about his drinking problem and then in 2014 Stand Up Records! decided to secretly record one of his yelling sessions and it became an album called Humours (Stand Up! Records). It did pretty well so he moved to New York to start yelling at a professional level. The Jackets are very proud of him.